The present disclosure relates to a vehicle seat and particularly relates to embodiments of a vehicle seat including a height device that connects a seat body and a vehicle body floor such that the seat body is movable up and down relative to the vehicle body floor.
There has been a well-known vehicle seat including a height device that connects a seat cushion serving as a seating portion of a seat body and a vehicle body floor such that the seat cushion is movable up and down relative to the vehicle body floor. Generally, the height device is attached between the seat cushion and the vehicle body floor, and includes a pair of front links provided on a front side of the seat and a pair of rear links provided on a rear side of the seat. One of the rear links serving as a drive link can adjust the height of the seat body. In addition, an operation lever for driving the height device is attached outward of the drive link in a seat width direction. A brake unit for restricting the drive of the height device is provided between the drive link and the operation lever, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Publication JP 2009-12548 A.
A vehicle seat described in Japanese Patent Publication JP 2009-12548 A mainly includes a seat cushion, a lifter corresponding to the height device, and a resin trim covering the seat cushion and the lifter from the outside in the seat width direction. The operation lever and the brake unit of the lifter are disposed separated from each other in a seat front-to-back direction. Power transmission means from the operation lever to the brake unit is formed from a parallel four-bar linkage. The above configuration improves the operability of the operation lever by a passenger, and enhances the degree of freedom for arrangement of the operation lever, thereby promoting the communization of the operation lever and the height device.
In a vehicle seat including a height device, at the time of the assembly of the height device, positional displacement may occur in the assembled height device due to dimensional tolerance, assembly tolerance, and welding tolerance, etc. of components thereof. In addition, the positional displacement of an operation lever may affect a seat appearance. Particularly, in the vehicle seat in Japanese Patent Publication JP 2009-12548 A, since the operation lever and the brake unit are disposed separated from each other, the operability of the operation lever is improved. However, the number of components such as a parallel four-bar linkage may be increased, and the positional displacement may be likely to occur in the height device. Thus, a technique has been desired to easily position the height device and suppress the positional displacement at the time of the assembly of the height device.
In addition, in a vehicle seat including a height device, in order to protect a seat cushion and a height device from the outside in the seat width direction, generally, a resin side cover is attached to an outer surface of the seat cushion. The side cover is elongated in the seat front-to-back direction, and then multiple members for securely attaching the side cover are required. Particularly, in the vehicle seat in Japanese Patent Publication JP 2009-12548 A, the operation lever and the brake unit are disposed separated from each other, thereby complicating the shape of the side cover covering these components of the height device. Therefore, multiple attachment members for the side cover are further required. Thus, a device has been desired to reduce the number of components while securely attaching the side cover for protecting the seat body and the height device from the outside thereof.